


long way home

by bageldiscourse



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Arizona sunsets as a major plot point, Future Fic, Getting Together, M/M, Major Character Injury, Meeting the Parents, Multimedia, Mutual Pining, Road Trips, not sure if that's a thing but it certainly is now, parents think they're dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 19:58:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13061100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bageldiscourse/pseuds/bageldiscourse
Summary: On a Wednesday morning in late May, Auston comes home.In a way, so does Mitch.You see, fate has a way of working itself out in a roundabout, unexpected way. Auston doesn’t believe in anything but two people whose lives overlap on purpose, but if he believed in something more, Mitch breaking his foot on the same night the Leafs are knocked out of the playoffs would be as clear a sign of fate as anything.(As Breyana — the hopeless romantic of the family — would always say, if not fate, then what?)





	long way home

On a Wednesday morning in late May, Auston comes home.

In a way, so does Mitch.

You see, fate has a way of working itself out in a roundabout, unexpected way. Auston doesn’t believe in anything but two people whose lives overlap on purpose, but if he believed in something more, Mitch breaking his foot on the same night the Leafs are knocked out of the playoffs would be as clear a sign of fate as anything.

(As Breyana — the hopeless romantic of the family — would always say, if not fate, then what?)

*****

It starts during game seven in Vegas — and honestly, the worst part about the game is that it was theirs to win from the very start, from the Leafs’ three unanswered goals in the first period to the Knights spending more time in the penalty box than on the ice. That they have twice as many shots as Vegas going into the third, but the Knights have pulled even late in the second.

That it doesn’t fall apart until halfway through overtime.

It’s Gards, Mitch, and Bozie out to start overtime, and not a minute into the period William Karlsson creates a breakaway, lines up for a one-timer at the blue line, which isn’t really an uncommon thing to happen, given who he is and how he’s been playing of late, but then he shoots the puck—

Which bounces off Mitch’s right skate, and immediately Mitch collapses.

Everyone on the bench goes still, and the world around Auston slows to a complete stop. For a moment, it’s so silent in T-Mobile Arena that Auston can faintly make out Mitch wincing in pain as a trainer makes his way onto the ice, by Mitch’s side, asking what happened and what hurts, and Auston feels sick to his stomach.

Gards skates over to Auston a minute later and says it’s his foot, probably, or maybe just his ankle, they can’t tell for sure yet. Broken, most likely, though it’s possible he just sprained it.

Auston just nods, his heart beating way too fucking fast, hammering in his ears, and his feet want to follow his heart and go over to Mitch, just to be _there_ , but — he doesn’t.

Instead, Bozie and Gards help Mitch to the bench, Mitch goes down the tunnel, and Auston over the boards and onto the ice, trying desperately to push the memory of Mitch’s face twisted in pain to the back of his mind and win a hockey game.

“He’ll be okay, eh?” Zach says, nudging Auston as they line up for a faceoff. He’s going for comforting, Auston knows this, but Auston doesn’t say anything, can’t _think_ of anything but the image of Mitch’s face when he went down out of his head.

He loses the faceoff when the puck drops, and not twenty seconds later the Knights win off a sloppy empty net goal from James Neal, his league-leading sixteenth of the playoffs, and just like that, it’s all over.

Afterward, Auston takes his time with media, a shower, and getting changed, lets the sting of the loss wash all the way off until he’s almost at ease with it, and Mitch is sitting in Auston’s stall when he walks back into the otherwise empty locker room. He’s sporting a walking boot on his foot, crutches lying on the floor by his side. The pain isn’t immediately visible on his face anymore, replaced by Mitch’s classically goofy smile that he always has when he sees Auston, which Auston supposes is a good sign.

“Broken?” Auston asks, though he already knows, knew from the moment the puck hit Mitch’s skate, he knew from the moment Mitch’s foot twisted in ways feet really shouldn’t twist, from the way Mitch fell to the ice, he knew and he knew and he knew and—

“Broken,” Mitch confirms. “Docs gave me some of the good shit, though, can’t feel a thing.”

“The good shit,” Auston repeats, really trying hard not to laugh.

(In the end, they both do.)

He walks over to Mitch and sits in the stall next to his, then, and it’s silent for a long while, the sting of the loss no doubt just beginning to settle into Mitch’s mind, too; Auston uses the time to do some thinking of his own.

See, ever since the whole Mitch Thing became a serious capital-T Thing, Auston’s been thinking a lot about taking Mitch home to his parents.

And, like, Mitch has met Auston’s parents plenty of times before — as Auston’s teammate, as his friend. But there’s a very specific implication to taking the boy you like home specifically to meet your parents, and he’s hoping, if all goes according to plan, Mitch will get the point of this whole thing without Auston having to spell it out for him.

(You never really know, with Mitch, though — Mitch, who’s the textbook definition of oblivious, and who, evidently, hasn’t caught onto Auston’s not-so-subtle Thing by now. So: it’s a tossup on whether this will even work at all, honestly.)

He’s been doing a stellar job avoiding his feelings for Mitch up to this point, thanks so much, but he figures now’s a good time as any to put the offer out there? Subtly.

“Hey, would you—” Auston begins, stops himself when Mitch turns to look at him because he remembers this sentence ends with a question that requires more of a careful lead-up than this. So. “Are you gonna go home to your parents anytime soon?”

Mitch shrugs. “Not really in the mood to fly anywhere, with this thing. My parents are out of town until July, anyway.”

Which — works, for Auston’s plan, actually. It’s only maybe five hours to Scottsdale from here. “How about driving?”

“I mean, sure, if I’m not the one driving,” Mitch says.

“D’you wanna drive to Arizona with me?” Auston asks next, slowly, the million-dollar question.

“When?”

“Tonight.”

“Auston,” Mitch says, a little incredulously. “That’s, like, five hours.”

“Four and a half, if we leave now.”

“Your car’s in Toronto.”

“Rental.”

“You’d have to drive it back up,” Mitch points out.

“I’ll get Alex to do it. What twenty-three year old wouldn’t like a road trip to Vegas?” Auston grabs Mitch’s crutches and stands up. “C’mon, at least think about it on our way to the hotel.”

“Okay, sure. I’ll think about it,” Mitch says, taking his crutches from Auston and letting him lead the way out.

“Great,” Auston says, not looking up from where he’s ordering them an Uber. “You’ve got twenty minutes, give or take.”

*****

The ride to the hotel is a quiet one, as is the elevator up to their shared room, and Mitch is the first to break the silence as Auston shoves their shit back in their suitcases while Mitch lies on one of the beds and watches.

“Y’know, I’ve always liked your mom’s tortilla soup,” is all he says, looking up at the ceiling, and it’s enough to make Auston smile wide in satisfaction. “You think she’d make it for me if I asked?”

“Anything for you, probably,” Auston says. “If we leave now, we’ll get there in time to see the sunrise.”

“What are we waiting for, then?” Mitch grins

*****

The first thirty minutes of the drive are Auston and Mitch arguing over who gets to choose the music they listen to; ultimately, Mitch wins, because Auston’s pathetically easy for him, which means they hear too much country and pop for Auston’s liking.

Auston calls his mom not long after they lapse into a comfortable silence, leaves a voicemail letting her know they’re on their way and should arrive in four hours or so. He doesn’t mention that he’s bringing Mitch, but he figures it’ll be no big deal.

Mitch dozes off sometime later, leaving Auston to second-guess what the hell he was thinking with all this, and it feels like an eternity later when Mitch wakes up slowly, blinking himself awake as the sun begins to peek over the horizon, pink-and-orange hues Auston’s found himself missing lately, with Mitch fucking around on his phone beside him. He’s pulling into the house, then, finally getting a proper chance to admire the view. He takes a photo for his Instagram story, affectionately captioned _i’m home,_ and he’ll cling onto the excuse that it’s purely coincidental if Mitch’s sleep-messy hair gets in the frame.

“It’s gorgeous,” Mitch says, kind of breathless, looking out the window.

“I’ve been spoiled my whole life with these,” Auston says in agreement.

After a minute, he gets out of the car, getting their bags from the backseat; Mitch is complaining about how his foot hurts, fumbling with his crutches for the time it takes Auston to do so, and Auston hardly chirps him for it, promising that his parents have got to have painkillers somewhere.

Auston lets himself in with his key, and Mitch follows him into the house a minute later.

“Matts, I need painkillers or I’ll _die_ ,” Mitch mumbles, then looks up, face-to-face with Auston’s mom. “Shit,” he says, eloquent as always. “Hi, Mrs. Matthews.”

“Mitch broke his foot last night, so he’s a little out of it today,” Auston says, reveling in Mitch’s utter embarrassment. “Have we got any Advil, or should we go pick up some?”

“It’s so nice to see both you boys,” Auston’s mom says, pulling them both into hugs. “I’m sure we have some, check the cabinet above the fridge. Mitch, how are you feeling?”

“I’m okay, thank you,” Mitch says.

“I think it’s so nice that you and Auston found each other,” Auston’s mom hums, as she leads Auston and Mitch into the kitchen.

“I mean,” Mitch says, “I wouldn’t say ‘found each other,’ we’re just teamm—”

“Did Auston ever tell you, before the two of you — y’know, got together, I used to try to set him up with some of my friends’ sons and daughters,” Auston’s mom says, smiling a little sheepishly.

“Mom, oh my God—” Auston groans, but Mitch says, “Go on,” because, like, he’s not entirely sure what Auston’s mom thinks he and Auston _are_ , but this is a story that sounds too good to pass up.

“He’d always insist he’s just not ready to date anyone, for the longest time,” Auston’s mom says, looking at both of them fondly. “So. You know. It’s just nice, is all. You make him happy, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted for him.”

“I’m—” Mitch says, then stops, because he’s more than a little confused about what’s happening right now, and his foot’s really starting to hurt again. “Thank you,” he finishes, finally, and it’s an ordinary enough response that still manages to seem entirely inadequate.

Auston is either unbothered or has the world’s greatest poker face as he says, “Yo, Marns,” before tossing Mitch the bottle of Advil.

“You’re my favorite person in the entire world right now,” Mitch says solemnly, swallowing three at once, and he means that for more reasons than one, honestly.

“Just right now?”

“ _Especially_ right now,” Mitch says, and yeah, Auston’ll take that.

“Auston, your sisters are both still on vacation, but your dad’s in the living room, go say hi,” Auston’s mom says. “What do you two want for dinner?”

“Tortilla soup,” both Auston and Mitch say, automatic.

“He’s kind of obsessed with it,” Auston says, amused, as he and Mitch are leaving the room.

“It’s good!” Mitch says defensively, putting on his Meeting The Parents face as soon as Auston’s dad turns around to greet them.

“Auston, Mitch, it’s nice to see you boys,” he says, stands up and pulls Auston into a hug. He turns to Mitch, then, and says, “Caught most of the game last night, how’s the foot doing?”

“Not too great,” Mitch admits, shifting on his crutches. “Docs are saying four to six weeks.”

“Come sit,” Auston’s dad prompts, and Auston helps Mitch sit with his foot elevated, as Auston’s dad settles into the armchair opposite them. “Ema and I are so glad you could come down here and spend some time with us,” he says, and Mitch looks to Auston for an explanation Auston can’t give. “We’re real happy for you two.”

“It’s nice to be here,” is what Mitch comes up with. “Arizona’s always one of my favorite trips during the season, it’s so pretty here.”

*****

(Auston’s mom does makes tortilla soup that night, even though low eighties really isn’t soup weather.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I love your mom?” Mitch says to Auston, after dinner. “She’s the best. I like her almost as much as I like you.”

“High praise, eh?” Auston chirps, but butterflies do backflips in his stomach at the half-compliment anyway.)

*****

**Kristen Shilton** @kristen_shilton

Appears Matthews has kidnapped Marner and the two are currently in Scottsdale, Matthews’ hometown, based on Marner’s latest Instagram. Marner wouldn’t talk to media yesterday about injury, but Babs did confirm it’s a broken foot. No surgery, out 4-6 weeks.

Attached in her next tweet is a screenshot of Mitch’s last post on Instagram, a selfie with him wearing tacky tourist sunglasses and posing behind the sunny Arizona sky in Auston’s backyard after barely a full day of being there. He makes the location Scottsdale, of course, tags Auston on the cactus in the corner, and captions it _seventy five and sunny in paradise this afternoon_ with several palm tree and sun emojis.

Auston gets a text from Willy not two minutes after he sees the post that says _wanna tell me why marns is in az rn?_

He definitely does not want to do so, and he ignores Willy in favor of shutting his phone off, turning to Mitch to say, “Willy thinks your glasses look tacky.”

Mitch rests the tacky sunglasses in question atop his head and throws an unapologetic grin Auston’s way. “Well, tell him I think _he_ looks tacky.”

“William Nylander has never looked tacky a day in his life,” Auston says, because that’s a fact.

“Fair,” Mitch says. “It’s all in the hair, I think.”

“Hey, we should go get ice cream.”

“Yeah, okay,” Auston says, easy, because there’s not much he wouldn’t do for Mitch Marner, and even less he wouldn’t do for Mitch Marner with only one fully functional foot.

*****

Auston’s Mitch Thing isn’t really a new thing, anymore, and it’s certainly never been a surprising thing.

See — Mitch is nice, and laughs at Auston’s extremely subpar jokes, and he’s not exactly hard on the eyes, either. Auston was bound to fall for him, from the first time they were temporarily put on a line together.

Up to now, it’s just been a Thing, the same way the Arizona heat feels like coming home or the Toronto snow always manages to catch him by surprise; it’s something he’s aware of, always dwelling in the back of his mind, pushed aside for higher priority things in his life like playing good hockey or calling his mom at least once a week, but that never really goes away no matter how hard Auston tries to be oblivious to it.

But somewhere along the way, something changed.

Don’t call it fate. Austou would say it’s nothing but the natural progression of the world, that some things are just inevitable.

Auston buys his first winter coat. He promises to come home over the summer.

He deals with the fact that he has a Thing for Mitch Marner.

(Or, y’know, _plans_ to, anyway, hence the whole ‘Mitch is sitting next to Auston on the couch in the living room again, drinking coffee and watching cartoons while wearing Auston’s favorite hoodie because his is in the wash’ situation.)

*****

**don’t worry mitchy I got you** @marnersmatthews

mitch is in az with auston my heart can’t handle this

 **mitch marner fan** @mmarner

what

 **don’t worry mitchy I got you** @marnersmatthews

check his insta

 **mitch marner fan** @mmarner

OMG

[2 more replies]

 **don’t worry mitchy I got you** @marnersmatthews

mitch and auston, sitting in a tree

 **don’t worry mitchy I got you** @marnersmatthews

k-i-s-s-i-n-g, probably

 **mitch marner fan** @mmarner

they just…………...love each other so much,

*****

On the third day, Auston succeeds in dragging Mitch around the city for dumb tourist-y sightseeing.

(For Mitch, anyway. The whole thing is one big nostalgia trip for Auston.)

First up is the museum, wherein Auston takes more pictures of Mitch than of the art, and Mitch, completely oblivious to the fact, complains about how Auston’s boring him half to death.

Auston lets Mitch pick their next destination, which is how they end up at the aquarium, which is definitely more his thing. Mitch convinces Auston to take dozens of pictures with him to post on Twitter, and they only gets stopped briefly twice to sign autographs for fans.

They’re both too exhausted to go anywhere but home after that, but Mitch makes Auston stop to get them ice cream again on the way home.

For dinner that night Auston’s mom makes enchiladas, and Mitch’s attempt to help Auston’s mom while Auston showers only goes as far as standing in the kitchen as Auston’s mom explains how this dish is Breyana’s absolute _favorite_.

Auston emerges some time later, wraps his arms around Mitch’s waist from behind in greeting. “How’s dinner coming?”

“Matts, hey,” Mitch says. “It’s almost done, I think — right, Mrs. Matthews? Looks delicious.”

“I’d say we’re five minutes away from eating,” Auston’s mom says. “Auston, would you set the table for us?”

They make a point of sitting down for a formal family dinner, which reminds Mitch of his own home in a comforting way that doesn’t make him as homesick as he’d expect it to; halfway through the meal, Auston’s dad says, “So, how long have you and Auston been dating?”

Both Mitch and Auston’s faces do a Thing, and Auston’s the one to gather himself and come up with a response first. “It was a year in April.”

“The eighth,” Mitch adds, because the only big thing that happened in April was the Leafs clinching the playoffs, and if he’s following what Auston’s implying, they would’ve gotten together on the eighth. “We made the playoffs, and went back to Auston’s, and he told me—”

“I’d been thinking about it for awhile,” Auston says, like a confession. “Just — we clinched, and Mitch, like, smiled at me from the bench, and that’s when I knew I had to get over myself and ask him to be my boyfriend then.”

Mitch doesn’t have much to add to that admittedly really perfect story, so he tries to come up with his side of things as Auston’s mom says, “Young love is just the cutest thing. Makes me so happy.”

“Ever since the draft, really, I was crushing hard on him,” Mitch says, because yeah, he believes in true love, in fate, and he believes in him and Auston just as much. Sue him. “I mean, like, obviously I didn’t know how he felt until last year, but he’d always been a guy that, ever since the draft, I knew would be important, not just to the team but to me. It’s hard not to have a crush on this guy, right?” Mitch pauses, shrugs when he notices Auston’s looking at him and doing something dumb with his face. “Anyway, I don’t know. He makes me better, as silly as it sounds. It’s been a pretty fun year with him.”

“I—” Auston says lamely. “Yeah.”

“That’s wonderful, boys,” Auston’s dad says, beaming.

The rest of dinner is quiet, but Auston hooks his foot around Mitch’s, and finally, _finally_ , Mitch stops worrying about whether his not-boyfriend’s parents like him.

*****

The next morning, Auston’s in the kitchen, making pancakes for himself and Mitch, and — possibly panicking, a little. Mitch is asleep upstairs in Auston’s room, and Auston can’t help but replay last night’s dinner conversation over in his head. How Auston hardly had to feel his own feelings because his parents were more than happy to do it for him.

(And it’s not like he disliked that, per se, just — this conversation will have a different feel to it, now. It’s fine.)

By the time Auston’s done passionately whisking milk into his pancake batter while overthinking the semantics of his and Mitch’s non-relationship, Mitch has made his way downstairs, as he looks up and Mitch is standing in the doorway.

“Marns, hey,” Auston says, pouring the batter for two pancakes onto the pan.

“So your parents think we’re dating,” Mitch says, casually as ever, as he makes his way into the room. “We should probably talk about that, I guess.”

“I guess,” Auston agrees, looking more at the bowl of batter on the counter than at Mitch. “How’d you get down the stairs on your own?”

“I’m fine,” Mitch says, rolling his eyes. “Anyway. That’s not the point.”

“Marns, I’m pretty sure it _is_ the point if you have a _broken_ _foot_ , it’s actually very much the point—”

“Anyway,” Mitch repeats, flippant. “I mean, are we?”

“Are we what?”

“Dating,” Mitch says, and he has to hope Auston doesn’t hear his heart skip a beat.

Auston’s silent for a minute, trying to think of how to reply. Finally, he says, “We do spend a lot of time together.”

“We’re pretty codependent,” Mitch confirms.

“I’m not saying they’re right about us, but — I don’t _not_ see it?”

“They could be a little wrong,” Mitch shrugs. “Like, we could be dating.”

Auston flips their pancakes as he says, “We could give it a try.”

“Are you sure?” Mitch asks. “Like, we’d be _dating_. Romantically.”

“You don’t say,” Auston replies, deadpan.

“I’m just saying!” Mitch says, defensive. “You seem, I don’t know, too chill about this whole thing.”

“Oh my God, Marns,” Auston says, laughing slightly, because Auston has never once been chill about anything Mitch-related ever. Ask anybody. “It’s all a facade, seriously. Like, I’m really into you, man.”

“Oh,” Mitch says, and Auston’s never seen Mitch smile wider than he is right now. “That’s good.”

“Is it?” Auston teases.

“It definitely is,” Mitch says. “You better not be fucking with me.”

“Why would I?”

“I dunno, I’m all broken. Y’know.”

“Marns, I wouldn’t,” Auston says. “Swear I’m not.”

“Okay, then I’m gonna kiss you,” Mitch says. “That seems like an appropriate thing to do here.”

“I think you might be onto something,” Auston says, and then he leans down and kisses Mitch, because he _has_ been waiting an absurd amount of time for this, after all.

*****

Because all big life-revelations always end up making it to Instagram, Mitch has a new post up by the end of breakfast.

It’s of him and Auston, which almost goes without saying, a candid taken by Auston’s mom the day before with Auston laughing at something dumb Mitch is saying as they sit in the basement playing video games, Auston’s arm slung around Mitch’s shoulder.

Mitch sits back on the couch, resting his head against Auston’s shoulder, and watches the various chirps flood in via comments and texts, because he captioned it _home away from home with my boyf_ and added a blue heart emoji, because he has nothing if not a brand to maintain.

“By the way,” Mitch says. “You’re really telling me we could’ve been dating for a _year_?”

Auston looks up from his phone. “What?”

“I mean — you weren’t kidding about when you started liking me, right?”

“Nope,” Auston says. “Were you?”

“Sweet, since I’ve kinda been actually-into you for awhile, too,” Mitch says.

“How long is awhile?”

“Since the draft, basically. That was one hundred percent not a lie.”

“That’s—” Auston says. “We didn’t even properly meet until weeks after that.”

Mitch shrugs. “Well, yeah, but like. You’re Auston Matthews.”

“And you’re Mitch Marner,” Auston says, no less confused after that non-clarification. “Your point?”

“You just,” Mitch says, and then he takes a deep breath before spilling his feelings everywhere. “You’re Auston Matthews, and when you retire you’re going to have scored a thousand goals and you have a really nice smile — kind of dumb sometimes, but y’know, I like it anyway — and honestly, your nose isn’t even that big, I don’t know why people always say it is, and I just — I really like you, okay? I’ve had a big dumb crush since I was eighteen, don’t look so surprised.”

Auston’s quiet for a beat too long, looking at Mitch in awe, sort of, and then he finally says, “Guess we’ve got some time to make up for, then, eh?”

He maneuvers them swiftly, then, so Mitch is lying as horizontal as he can comfortably be and Auston hovers over him, pushing his hair back out of his eyes before kissing him, much slower and much more than their first time.

Auston having game is something Mitch can acknowledge in theory, but in practice is just — it’s a lot.

Right now, an entire lifetime of this feeling seems like the ideal situation Mitch could possibly be in.

(He’s always known not to complain when something good falls into his lap like this, anyway.)

*****

**Kristen Shilton** @kristen_shilton

Woah. Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews just essentially confirmed they’re in a relationship via Instagram. Take a look: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZjZgsrf

 **katherine** @amatthews

y’all omg

 **don’t worry mitchy I got you** @marnersmatthews

holy shit mitch and auston

 **mitch marner fan** @mmarner

OH MY GOD I CALLED IT

*****

[View all 792 comments]

 **k.sherwoodx** Soft

 **10_cd** What a catch

 **lawcrouse** cuffing szn

 **kristen_shilton** Happy for you two!

**Author's Note:**

> she's done!!!! shoutout 2 laila for the beta and [finger guns] enjoy, y'all.  
> title is from the 5sos song of the same name.  
> (i'm on [twitter](http://twitter.com/bboesers)!)


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